{"id":111854,"date":"2017-08-14T21:08:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T01:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=111854"},"modified":"2017-08-14T21:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T01:26:22","slug":"foreign-triathletes-anticipate-return-to-ph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/14\/foreign-triathletes-anticipate-return-to-ph\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign triathletes anticipate return to PH"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_111855\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-111855\" style=\"width: 415px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Department-of-Tourism-Logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-111855\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Department-of-Tourism-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"Department of Tourism Logo (PNA Photo)\" width=\"415\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Department-of-Tourism-Logo.jpg 415w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Department-of-Tourism-Logo-300x188.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-111855\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Department of Tourism Logo (PNA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MANILA \u2014 The Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 might be over, but foreign triathletes are already anticipating not just next year\u2019s competition, but also a chance to visit the Philippines anew.<\/p>\n<p>Over 2,700 triathletes from 52 countries participated in the 10th anniversary of the sporting event organized by Sunrise Events Inc. in cooperation with the Department of Tourism (DOT).<\/p>\n<p>Ironman 70.3 officials said the triathlon sport has enjoyed a world-class venue in the Queen City of the South, which earned raves for hosting last year\u2019s Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship at Shangri-La\u2019s Mactan Resort and Spa.<\/p>\n<p>Female champion Amelia Watkinson of New Zealand said she was excited to come back to meet the local people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI find people in Cebu very supportive and exciting with crowd on the side of the streets smiling, waving little colourful banners, marching bands playing, cheering for us, go-go-go,\u201d said Watkinson, who triumphed in last year&#8217;s 5150 triathlon at Subic, Zambales.<\/p>\n<p>Australian Tim Reed, who posted his best time of 3 hours, 15 minutes and 7 seconds in his third straight triumph, said that he will \u201cdefinitely\u201d be back next year as Cebu was \u201cspecial\u201d to him.<\/p>\n<p>Runner-up and the fan favorite Mauricio Mendez of Mexico, who also vowed to return, lauded the organizers for how the race was \u201cprofessionally\u201d put together.<\/p>\n<p>Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, in a statement, said that foreign triathletes were always welcome in the Philippines.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are very happy and elated to have the biggest competitors in triathlon sports. You and your families are always welcome here and have fun in one of the best islands in the world,&#8221; Teo said. (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA \u2014 The Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 might be over, but foreign triathletes are already anticipating not just next &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":111855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[1432,21169],"class_list":["post-111854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-dot","tag-ironman","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}